Memphis pork butt

pork-butt · verified system recipe · Memphis BBQ tradition — hand-curated

Pit temp
225°F
Wrap at
165°F
Pull at
203°F
Total time
~10.8 hr

Phase timeline

420m
180m
Smoke (bare)Wrap (foil w/ mop)Rest + pulltotal: 10h 45m

Step-by-step

  1. 1. Smoke (bare)

    → 165°F · ~420 min

    225°F pit, cherry + hickory mix. Heavy bark from the brown-sugar rub.

  2. 2. Wrap (foil w/ mop)

    → 203°F · ~180 min

    Add 1/4 cup vinegar mop in the foil for steam + flavor.

  3. 3. Rest + pull

    ~45 min

    Vent in cooler. Pull while warm — bone slides clean.

Rub
Brown sugar + paprika + kosher salt + garlic powder + black pepper + cayenne
Spritz / mop
Apple cider vinegar + apple juice, 1:1
Wrap method
foil_with_mop
Rest method
vented_cooler
Minimum rest
45 min

📐 Scale for guests

Target weight
1.8 lb
0.45 lb/guest
Cuts needed
1
~5 lb per cut
Cook time / cut
10h 0m
+ 45m rest

Each cut cooks at its own rate — even if you double up, plan the same hours. For very large crowds, run multiple cuts in parallel and stagger by 30 min.

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